


It's a Hakurei Life

by gameraramen



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Touhou Secret Santa 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-10 02:48:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17417597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gameraramen/pseuds/gameraramen
Summary: Reimu needs to prepare for her shrine's winter's-end party tomorrow. But with Yukari Yakumo, the Moriya Shrine, and Hakugyokurou residents getting involved, things get a little messier than she was hoping for. Can everyone come together and celebrate peacefully, or is this party doomed to fail?





	It's a Hakurei Life

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was created for seaquestions as part of the 2018 Touhou Secret Santa. This took quite a bit longer than I was expecting, I may have gotten a little ambitious with this.
> 
> seaquestions, thank you for your patience. I hope this was worth the wait!

The sun shone brightly down on Gensokyo, warming the land on a mild early spring day. Hardly any clouds sat in the clear blue sky; the temperature was warm without being hot; gentle breezes now and then ruffled people’s hair and reminded them that winter was not completely left behind yet. To put it simply, the day was—

“Absolutely _boring_ ,” Reimu muttered to herself as she swept the exterior of her shrine’s main building. There were hardly any leaves blowing around this early in the season, but the arid wind seemed to keep bringing an endless supply of dirt and dust that needed constant sweeping. At least the snow seemed to be finished; keeping the walkways at the shrine clear of snow had been nothing but a thorn in her side all winter long.

Of course, winter had to take one last stab at her, and a freakishly cold night two weeks ago ruined a batch of sake that she had been preparing in a small secondary building. What she would give for some indoor heating…

Not only that, but the colder weather had all but halted the (already thin) stream of visitors to the shrine. It took a lot more than some winter weather to keep Marisa and Aya away, but after several months full of Marisa’s barging in and making herself a little _too_ at home, and Aya’s pushy attitude and general nosiness, Reimu was really hoping that people other than them would start dropping by soon. “It’s just…a little _too_ quiet around here.”

As soon as those words left her mouth, she heard the too-familiar sound of reality itself tearing apart slightly in the main room of the building she was outside of, announcing the arrival of the one person in all of Gensokyo she wanted to see even less than Marisa and Aya. “I take that back,” Reimu said out loud, continuing to sweep the building’s exterior rather than acknowledge her new guest just yet.

“You take what back, Miss Reimu?”

“Nothing, Yukari. You know, would it kill you to enter like a normal person, just once? I spend a lot of time keeping the shrine entrance clean, but you just pop in without so much as a warning.”

The sound of reality closing back up meant that the gap Yukari came in through had closed. Yukari bothering to step outside her gap meant that either she had some very serious news to deliver, or she was really committed to whatever shenanigans she was about to pull; Reimu didn’t know which possibility she was dreading more.

“Come now, Miss Reimu, this way is much more convenient for both of us. Besides, I quite enjoy keeping you on your toes.”

Reimu finally stopped sweeping and turned around to face the Sage. “Out with it, Yukari. I doubt you’re here to leave a prayer and a donation.”

Yukari met her with a slight knowing smile. “Really now, Miss Reimu. I’ve been nothing but generous to you and your shrine, and you’re suspicious of me just for visiting? I thought you wanted people to come here, no?”

Reimu met her unreadable smile with an unamused flat stare. “I’m giving you ten seconds to say something actually meaningful before I go back to sweeping.”

The seconds ticked by without a sound in the still air. Sighing, Reimu turned away from Yukari and returned to her sweeping.

“Shouldn’t you be preparing for your party tomorrow, Miss Reimu?”

“There’s no party, Yukari, we don’t have one this time of year.”

Reality split open a foot from Reimu, and Yukari’s hand reached through the small gap, offering a newspaper to her. “That’s funny, the newspaper seems to say otherwise,” came Yukari’s insufferably-smug-yet-perfectly-neutral voice. Reimu took the newspaper, and Yukari’s hand retreated into the closing gap. This was the most recent edition of the Bunbunmaru News, released late last week…and on the front page was an exciting announcement of a winter’s-end party at the Hakurei shrine.

“Wait, _what?!_ I didn’t—I never—where’s that damn tengu?!”

“Is something the matter, Miss Reimu?” 

Wait a minute…

Reimu whirled around to face Yukari again, anger rising inside her. “ _You!_ What did you do?!”

Yukari’s face betrayed nothing. “All I’ve done is come here to help my dear friend prepare for her party. Look at how much work needs to be done; surely you could use an extra set of hands.”

Reimu’s mind started turning at this. True, _someone_ had published that she was throwing a party tomorrow without actually telling her; whether that Aya misinterpreting something she’d said or Yukari stirring up trouble again didn’t really matter. And with how popular Bunbunmaru News was, she could be guaranteed that plenty of people would be showing up tomorrow no matter what she said. Chasing people away after there was news of a party would be pretty bad for her shrine’s image, but there was no way she could accomplish anything near the preparations needed for a party by herself in a day. But if Yukari was offering to help…though Reimu hated to put her shrine’s fate in Yukari’s hands like this, she had to admit that Yukari had never acted to directly harm the shrine. Though accepting her help would undoubtedly come with some strings or complications, she didn’t see any better way out of this.

Reimu sighed slightly. “Alright, Yukari, I’ll accept your help with this. Where do you want to start?” She knew she couldn’t get out of this without Yukari’s aid, but being around Yukari had rarely not been an incredible nuisance.

The sound of reality splitting rang out again, and the nine-tailed shikigami Ran Yakumo daintily emerged from the new gap. “Come now, Miss Reimu, did you really think I was referring to my _own_ hands?” came Yukari’s voice.

Great. If there was anything worse than dealing with Yukari’s completely unreadable and entirely annoying nonsense, it was dealing with her robotic underling that ignored everyone besides Yukari. 

Reimu leaned her broom against the outside wall, regret already filling her mind. This was going to be a long day.

“Miss Sanae!”

“Y-yes, Lady Kanako?” Sanae jumped slightly when Kanako spoke up; she’d been still and quiet for the time Sanae had spent sweeping the Moriya Shrine grounds.

“Miss Sanae, I have been thinking. We need to bring more faith to this shrine. And do you know how one brings more faith to a shrine, Miss Sanae?”

“H-how does one bring more faith to a shrine, Lady Kanako?”

“We need to bring more _people_ here, Miss Sanae. We need more of the world to be aware of us, and for people to come here to give their faith. We need to advertise, Miss Sanae! To that end, we need to hold an event here to draw the multitudes. Do you know when we should hold such an event, Miss Sanae?”

Sanae tapped her finger against her chin, considering the logistics of hosting a large event at the shrine. “Well, I could go into town today to get some supplies, and with Lady Suwako’s help I could have the shrine ready…sometime next week…” She trailed off there, as Kanako was staring at her intensely.

“That’s far too late, Miss Sanae. Winter has already come to a close, there is no better time to hold an event than now. No, we shall be holding this event tomorrow.”

“T-tomorrow?!” That made Sanae nervous. Kanako could be stubbornly strong-willed at times, no matter how impossible her demands her. “Lady Kanako, there’s just no way we could be prepared by tomorrow, we don’t even have enough things to set up for an event…”

Kanako simply waved her concerns away. “Nonsense, Miss Sanae, a shrine maiden and two gods are plenty enough to get this place ready by tomorrow. Go into town as soon as possible, and feel free to use the shrine’s funds for this occasion. I want this to be an event people across Gensokyo will hear about!” She paused for a moment. “Oh, and take Suwako with you when you go, she seems to have a knack for these things.”

Sanae was still very unsure about how well this was going to go, but if Kanako was offering to help, then just maybe they could get together something respectable. “Very well, Lady Kanako, we’ll be back with supplies late in the afternoon.” 

She probably didn’t need that much time to just make a supply run, but Suwako was popular with the townsfolk for her disarmingly cute demeanor and various party tricks her godly powers gave her; why not make an adventure out of it? It was practically another kind of advertising, right?

“Youmu?”

“Yes, Lady Yuyuko?”

Youmu and Yuyuko were relaxing with tea and snacks in the courtyard. It was a very mild day in Hakugyokurou, but there was almost never any other kind of weather in the underworld.

“When was the last time we had a party, Youmu?”

Youmu put down the tea she was pouring and handed Yuyuko her refilled cup. “Well, we entertained Lady Yukari a few weeks ago, and before that…it’s been several months, my lady.”

Yuyuko took a sip of her tea. “Well, that simply won’t do. We should throw a party here. It is almost the end of winter, is it not?”

Youmu thought about bringing up the fact that the seasons in the underworld never changed unless powerful forces were at play, but decided against it. “You are correct, my lady, winter has ended in the overworld.”

Yuyuko gently smiled at her. “Well there we have it. This is an excellent opportunity to have a party here!”

Youmu looked slightly to the side. “About that, my lady…I was in the aboveworld a few days ago, there was news that the Hakurei shrine maiden was throwing a winter’s end party. If I have kept track of the time properly, that party will be tomorrow.”

Yuyuko’s smile widened slightly. “Oh, even better! Let’s go visit the Hakurei shrine tomorrow, then.”

“Of course, my lady, I’ll prepare our things.” Youmu didn’t necessarily mind hosting events, but large parties like what Yuyuko was fond of typically involved a lot of cooking beforehand and cleaning afterwards, and those were both things she could avoid by going to a party elsewhere. Yuyuko gave up on her own party rather quickly, but Youmu suspected she was more interested in eating special food and drinking with others than the actual “hosting” part of the party.

Youmu took a sip of her own tea. No reason to interrupt afternoon tea for the preparations of going to the aboveworld, especially when it was still hot.

Reimu breathed out heavily and fell against the wall, raising an arm to keep the evening sun out of her eyes. It had been a long, exhausting, and irritating day full of hard labor and some of the most annoying company in Gensokyo.

That said, though, she was genuinely impressed at how much the three (two?) of them had accomplished. Either Ran was capable of working at what should have been a physically impossible speed, or Yukari was pitching in when Reimu wasn’t looking; she wasn’t sure which scenario was less likely. 

Yukari also did not hesitate to send Ran into town at any time for any reason. The shrine was loaded with all manner of food and drink stands, and even a couple party games and group attractions. They’d even somehow refilled the long-neglected fortune box. Reimu was afraid to ask where the money for all this came from; she’d never heard of Yukari working a day in her life. She should probably go check on the offertory box soon, make sure she hadn’t been the one to truly foot the bill here…

The familiar unnatural sound of reality unfolding came from next to her, and Yukari’s torso poked out from the wall. “Well, Miss Reimu? Do you think there are any further preparations we need?”

Reimu shook her head. “Honestly, I can’t think of anything else this place would need. We’ve got food, games, banners…I’m a little impressed actually.”

Yukari’s ever-present unreadable smile seemed to widen a hair, but Reimu wasn’t sure she wasn’t just seeing things. “Wonderful to hear. Now, don’t you think it’s time for a nice meal after all of our hard work?”

Reimu couldn’t help but scoff slightly. “ _Our_ work? I didn’t see you so much as touch a decoration, Yukari.”

Yukari waved away the accusation. “Come now, Miss Reimu, I am wounded that you think so lowly of me! I assure you, I have been nothing but a hard worker today. Now, about that hot meal…”

Reimu took a step away from the wall and turned to face Yukari, putting down her sun-blocking arm. How did Yukari not need to block the sun at all? Her face was fully in the fading sunlight, but she didn’t so much as squint. “It’s been kind of a thin winter here, I don’t really have much more than meat and some potatoes to offer.”

Yukari’s expression offered no reaction to this meager offer. “That will be perfectly sufficient, I always consider food to be merely the accessory to the drink. Do you have any sake, or perhaps tea? A hot beverage would be divine.”

“I would love some sake as much as you, but this damn weather ruined a batch I was making and the new one isn’t ready yet. I’ve got some tea, but I would really appreciate some help in the kitchen.” Reimu wasn’t expecting Yukari to actually be helpful, but like hell she was going to be bossed around into making a full meal by herself.

“That shall be fine. Ran will be happy to aid you in this.”

Reimu turned away from Yukari and started to head for her pantry. “Alright, then I’ll—WAGH!” The shikigami had silently appeared just a couple feet behind Reimu, startling her when she turned around. She looked back at the wall to give Yukari a glare for this unfunny prank, but where the sage had been moments before there was only a blank wall.

Trying to calm her pounding heart, she looked back at Ran. “Alright, you want to handle food or the tea?” Ran gave no reaction. “On second thought, you can take care of the tea; I don’t know if I can trust you with human food.” And with that Reimu moved past her to get the food, Ran trailing close behind.

“What do you _mean_ the Hakurei Shrine is hosting an event tomorrow? This is preposterous!”

“I-I’m sorry, Lady Kanako, but I’m caught off-guard just as much as you. If I’d known about this sooner, I would have mentioned it!”

The sun was just touching the horizon, and the mountain was tinted orange from the fading light. Sanae and Sukawo had recently returned from their outing, shocked to discover the news of a party at the Hakurei Shrine tomorrow. When they passed this along to Kanako, however, she was even more upset. They’d gotten some work done in setting up the Moriya Shrine for a public event, but Kanako kept coming back to indignation over the Hakurei event.

“Miss Sanae, you should have come straight back here once you learned that! For our greatest competition to be so aggressive in their advertising…clearly I made a mistake entrusting you with this, I should have sent you to advertise for our own shrine! We’re going to be completely outmatched at this rate.”

Suwako waddled towards the frustrated god. “Hey, hey, aren’t you being a little harsh on her? Not our fault we actually wanted to finish getting supplies. Aren’t you the one in charge of advertising this place anyways?”

Kanako opened her mouth to rebut angrily, then closed it. She began again, in a slightly calmer tone. “You do have a point, Suwako, that is typically my jurisdiction. The problem is, even with all these supplies, we’re always playing catch-up with the Hakurei Shrine, and their aggressive advertising campaign blindsided all of us. Tomorrow will be difficult for this shrine…”

Sanae tentatively spoke up. “If the Hakurei Shrine has that much bigger of a presence than us, maybe we shouldn’t try to go against them on the same day? We could do this another day, or something like that.”

A moment of silence followed the priestess’s idea, and then a mischievous glint came to Suwako’s eyes. “’Don’t try to go against them on the same day,’ huh?” She turned to Kanako. “Hey, Kanako could you give us a hand packing up everything? I’ve got an idea you’ll like…”

Youmu’s katana cut through the air, nicking the wooden training target as she backed up and centered herself, a sword in each hand. She then rushed forward, slicing the target again with her katana and following up with her wakizashi as she moved past it, turning and stepping to slice at another target several feet away.

The sounds of metal hitting wood and Youmu’s feet hitting the practice mat rang out again and again as she continued menacing the targets, breathing rhythmic and mind focused. As the resident swordsperson of the Netherworld, she could not afford to slack on her training. And if she was being honest, she took a bit of pride in her skill with her blades.

Yuyuko stood at the edge of the doorway, silently watching Youmu’s passionate training. Though Youmu was technically her trainer in using swords, it had been many years since such a lesson actually happened. Part of her was a bit saddened at this; though she quite liked Youmu and even respected her honest and diligent attitude, she always felt a bit disconnected from her. Still, she really despised physical activity, and it wasn’t like she actually needed to learn to use a sword; her magical and danmaku abilities were more than strong enough to take on whatever she might face.

After several minutes, Youmu finally noticed Yuyuko’s silent presence. She turned to face the lady of the estate, still breathing a bit heavily. “Yes, my lady?”

“Youmu, is everything packed for tomorrow?”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Oh, excellent!” Yuyuko took out a fan and unfolded it, covering the bottom half of her face with it. “Say, Youmu?”

This was unusual. Yuyuko often held fans and hid her face behind them when speaking, but it was very rare for Yuyuko to do so when talking with her. “Yes, my lady?”

A pause. “You’re a hard worker and an invaluable asset to Hakygyokyou, Youmu. Never forget that.”

Youmu fidgeted slightly, unused to direct praise and unsure of where this was headed. “Th-thank you, my lady.”

Yuyuko moved her fan away from her face, any sort of seriousness seemingly gone. “Oh, think nothing of it. Say, I think it’s time we have some food. Shall we have rice balls tonight?”

And there was the Yuyuko she saw more frequently. “O-of course, my lady, right away.”

Yuyuko smiled slightly. “I’ll be waiting, then.” Making absentminded yet delicate movements with the fan in her hand, Yuyuko moved from the doorway and left Youmu’s sight.

Youmu stepped off of the training mat and sheathed her swords, trying to process the conversation that just happened. It was exceedingly rare for Yuyuko to give any sort of direct praise or honest opinion, especially unprompted like that. Trying not to let it distract her, she put her shoes back on and left the room; there were rice balls to be made, after all.

Reimu yawned as she walked out of the shrine’s main building, cup of warm tea in her hands. It wasn’t like she was getting up super early—it was well past dawn already—but it wouldn’t do any good to sleep in on the day of a shrine event and waste all of yesterday’s hard work. She blinked and rubbed her eyes, peering out over the shrine’s courtyard. Yep, there was the ring toss, there was the takoyaki cart, there was the—

Wait, what was that? There were several stands and banners she didn’t recognize in a loose cluster towards the center of the open space. Ran didn’t do some extra work overnight, did she? Those definitely weren’t there yesterday…and besides, they looked completely different to anything the three of them had set up. Reimu stared intensely at the strange group, trying to figure out what they were or where they’d come from. She was about to go question Yukari about it when she saw what looked like a circle of rope elevated several feet off the ground, with paper streamers coming off a rope…and a mass of purple hair in the center of the circle. That looked suspiciously like a person sitting on some sort of high chair or throne with their back to Reimu, but there was only one person in all of Gensokyo who matched that description.

…Kanako Yasaka, the troublesome and pushy goddess of the Moriya Shrine. She’d been a thorn in Reimu’s side on several occasions, but something so brazen and underhanded was not her style. Still, Reimu wanted to know what in the world she was up to. Going back inside, she took one last swig of her tea and set it on the table, then grabbed her purification rod and went back out with the most authoritative stride she could muster. She really didn’t think she’d need the rod (no way she could win a danmaku battle this early in the day), but something about having it in her hand made her feel more confident. 

Reimu walked around the structure Kanako was sitting on to look at her face-to-face. “Alright, Kanako, what the hell are you doing here?”

Kanako simply looked at her with an amused expression. “Oh, good morning, Miss Hakurei. Lovely weather today, isn’t it?”

Reimu was only more irritated at Kanako flat-out ignoring her question. “In case you haven’t noticed, you’re at the wrong shrine. This is the Hakurei Shrine; I think you’re supposed to be a little more—” she jabbed her rod vaguely in the direction of the tengu mountain “—that way.”

Kanako smiled slightly at her. “How could I possibly miss out on your winter-end party? It must be worth seeing if it was advertised so heavily.”

Reimu groaned in frustration. For the love of…”There’s a lot of things wrong with that statement, but the most important part is that you aren’t just showing up for some festivities; you brought half a circus with you!” She gestured widely to the cluster of new attractions and decorations that had popped up overnight. “It’s fine if you want to come to events here as a guest, but what’s the deal with all this stuff? We’ve got plenty of things set up already, thank you very much.”

Kanako’s slight smile disappeared, but her expression remained neutral. “We were actually undergoing preparations at the Moriya shrine to host an event of our own, but we thought it would be much more productive to join forces with you. Consider it a…partnership of our shrines, a show of—if you’ll excuse the pun—good faith.”

Reimu gave Kanako the most blank and unamused stare she could manage, struggling to maintain the climbing anger inside her. “Where’s Sanae? I feel like she’s the only one of you three I have any chance of getting through to.”

Kanako seemed to not notice her aggressive comment. “Oh, she’s still resting at the Moriya Shrine. She needs much more sleep than I do, being human and all.”

Reimu sighed deeply. It seemed peace talks were breaking down faster than she had hoped, but she wasn’t sure she could muscle Kanako out of here. Still, might as well act tough. “Well, then do me a favor and get out of here until she’s up and moving. You can’t be here like this, and until Sanae’s here we’re really not going to have any hope of communicating.” She looked Kanako directly in the eye. “This is your last warning.”

The goddess just looked at her plainly. “I do not see any reason to leave, Miss Hakurei. I will be staying here.”

Something in Remiu snapped at this. She took a step forward, pointing her purification rod at the goddess. “Alright, then—” Whatever she was about to say was cut off by a dainty chuckle behind her. Reimu whirled around at this. “Yukari, are you seeing what—”

The source of the voice was not the expected youkai, however. Standing behind Reimu was a ghostly pink-haired figure dressed in blue. “Come now, Miss Reimu, your temper’s really going to get you in trouble one of these days.”

Yuyuko? What was she—ah, she must have caught word of today’s party and come to visit. She wasn’t alone, though: Youmu, Sanae, and Suwako were all close behind. 

Still, that didn’t change things; if anything, Reimu felt even more irritated that more people were here, especially since two of them were from the Moriya Shrine and (presumably) involved in this nonsense plan. “Stay out of this, Yuyuko, this is between me and the Moriya people.”

Youmu stepped forward, left hand hovering near the sword on her waist. “I must kindly ask you to not speak to my lady in such a manner, Lady Hakurei.”

Reimu stared hard at Youmu, irritation rising within her with every passing second. It wouldn’t be good to get in a fight here, but she was angry enough to not really care. She flicked her purification rod and was about to fire a danmaku at Youmu when the other priestess present darted in between them, arms out wide.

“C-come on, now! We don’t need to be hostile; we’re all friends here, right?” She looked between Reimu in front of her and Youmu behind her, hoping neither of them would take this any further while she was still between them.

Reimu glared at her, and then lowered her rod and loosened her shoulders. “Usually friends don’t come barging in uninvited—ah, who am I kidding, Marisa does that all the time.”

Seeing that Reimu lowered her weapon, Youmu relaxed and moved back wordlessly.

Yuyuko spoke up next. “My, my, such energy! This must be something grave indeed if you’re this fired up about it.”

Reimu scoffed. “I worked my butt all day yesterday getting this place ready for today’s event, and this trespasser—” she waved her rod at Kanako “—comes in and sets up her own stuff without so much as a word!”

Yuyuko removed a fan from her sleeve and unfolded it, fanning herself slightly. “And what exactly is the issue, Miss Reimu? As you said before, your good friend Miss Kirisame acts similarly, yet I have never heard of you being so hostile with her.”

“Wha—those two are nothing alike!” Reimu paused for a moment. “Well, mostly nothing alike. But Kanako’s never been good news for me; I’m sure she’s got another ridiculous scheme going on here to boost her own shrine’s standing. I don’t want her here piggybacking off my own hard work!”

Suwako jumped up to announce that she was joining the conversation. “Actually, this one was my idea!”

Reimu seemed taken aback at that. “Are you serious?! I thought you were the less bothersome one…Is there anyone at the Moriya Shrine that isn’t completely off their rocker?”

“Hey!” Sanae snapped back.

“Sorry, Sanae, but you being less troublesome than these two isn’t exactly a high bar to clear.”

Sanae crossed her arms and pouted. “’These two’ are my patron goddesses, you know, there’s no need to say it like that.”

Yuyuko cleared her throat loudly. “So, Miss Reimu, your main concern here is that Miss Kanako may be trying to use this even for her own gain?”

Reimu paused momentarily. “Well, yeah, that’s what I’ve been saying.”

“So if you had a guarantee she would not be here simply for her own gain, you would not object to her presence?”

Reimu blew air out of her mouth in what was very close to a raspberry. “Like I could actually get such a guarantee…But, if such a thing could happen, then I guess I could let her stay.”

Yuyuko smiled. “See, we’re making progress.” She turned to Kanako. “Can you guarantee to Miss Reimu that your presence here is not simply to advertise for your own shrine?”

Kanako locked eyes with her in a steady gaze. “You have my word that I am not here to spread the word of the Moriya Shrine.”

The sound of existence rending apart rang out again, and Yukari emerged from a gap a couple feet to the side of Yuyuko. She floated out of the gap as it narrowed behind her and sat on the mostly-closed gap, parasol resting on her shoulder. “Can you give _me_ your word, Lady Kanako?”

Kanako tensed ever so slightly at the arrival of the youkai, but met her gaze as well. “You, too, have my word…that I am not here to spread the word of the Moriya Shrine.”

Yukari seemed to be pleased at this, but it was always hard to tell what she was thinking. “Thank you, Lady Kanako. Though, I’m not sure if your word will be sufficient for Miss Reimu to let you stay…is there something else you can offer, perhaps?”

Yuyuko tapped her fan against her chin in thought. “Perhaps…any donations you receive in your time here must be passed on to the Hakurei Shrine. As a show of good faith, of course.” She looked at her floating companion next to her. “Oh, and any sort of drinks you can supply would help greatly. Some sake perhaps?”

Kanako looked at Reimu, who gave her an unfriendly expression in return, and then looked back at the two Gensokyo elders. “If…I were to do both of these, do I have Miss Hakurei’s word that we can stay without conflict?”

Yuyuko turned to the resident shrine maiden. “Well, Miss Reimu?”

As much as Reimu didn’t like the idea of letting the Moriya people run around unchecked, anything that gave her own shrine more money was most welcome. Plus, Kanako wouldn’t break her word to Yukari. Probably. “Alright, she has my word.”

Yuyuko gestured towards the sitting goddess. “Would you like to tell her yourself?”

Reimu scowled, but looked at Kanako. “If you pass along any donations you get, and provide some nice sake, you can stay here today. Okay?”

Kanako uneasily nodded back. “Very well then, Miss Hakurei. It is a deal.”

Yuyuko clapped her hands together suddenly. “Wonderful! Now that that’s out of the way, shall the festivities begin? I, for one, could go for some takoyaki…”

Youmu spoke up sheepishly. “My lady, we had our morning meal just before coming here. Was it not satisfactory?”

Yuyuko looked at her and laughed. “Oh, my apologies Youmu, the food this morning was excellent. But when you’re at a special event like this, it’s important to sample as much food as possible.”

Reimu’s expression fell neutral at this. She should have known Yuyuko only came for the food…But, she did have a point. They’d wasted enough time settling her beef with Kanako; they needed to make the final touches before the crowds arrived. “Hey, Sanae, Youmu, could you give me a hand with the food? We need to get this show on the road.”

Sanae nodded. “Sure thing!”

Youmu made no movement, but said, “I can assist, yes.”

“Alright, let’s go.” Reimu started walking towards the party’s food supplies in one of the secondary buildings, Sanae and Youmu trailing behind her. She’d gotten enough excitement in the past half hour to last for the day; hopefully she’d finally get a chance to just relax and just enjoy some festivities today.


End file.
